Solid start to January for me. Making big plans for the first six months of the year, but first and foremost is launching my album! At the moment, busying myself with planning more music videos and photoshoots for when I get back to Berlin.

And it seems like all of you are making plans, too! I've already been on several phone calls and email chains with people rockin' sweet ideas for 2016, and it's not even one week into the year yet. So digging it.

I'm already hearing some buzz from plenty of you that are looking to re-start (or start for the first time!) with the New Job Search thing. You've picked an excellent time of the year to start!

In order to help you get it together quickly, I have two tidbits of advice.

1.If you're not on LinkedIn by now, you need to be.

When I introduce two new people who want to work together, I attach their LinkedIn profiles. When I want to learn more about a company, I creep on LinkedIn profiles. When people want to hire me, they look at my LinkedIn profile.

It's the best way to quickly get a sense of someone's professional history, and way easier to pass along than a resume. Don't waste time worrying about it "not being good enough" or about not having "the right experience" yet. As it always tends to be in life, people are too busy focusing on their own reflection in the mirror to notice or care about what you're doing in the next lane over.

At the *very least,* you need to create a profile with your current job or school status in the title. And if you're already there, might I suggest....

I wrote about this idea in 2015, and you can go read that old post hereto learn about it in more detail. In short, a qualifications section looks like this:

And it should go RIGHT at the top of your resume. It lets recruiters and managers know exactly what your skills are without having to dig through the professional-sounding jargon on the rest of the page. If they like what they see, they probably won't even read any farther! That's a good thing!

Bonus tip: you can also put this section in the Summary on LinkedIn. This is a great strategy if you already have a job that you're trying to leave, but your stalker boss will notice if you start saying that you're "seeking new opportunities" on LinkedIn.

Why? The Summary section actually operates as an SEO text, meaning that people can search for these skills keywords on LinkedIn... and they may just find you, because your profile already lists them!

Well, now. How about that for a kick-ass newsletter to start off 2016? You're welcome.

Big love,Alexa

Snapchat: @alexashowtimeInstagram: @alexashoenTwitter: @alexashoen

PS: Did you find this newsletter useful? Forward it to your best friend so that they don't come to you complaining about their lousy job anymore.

PPS: Got a topic you need me to cover this year on #entrylevelboss? Hit reply and tell me what's up.

PPPS: A reminder that I am sharing highlights of this newsletter on Snapchat this year! Add me to get your weekly dose of awesome ideas: @alexashowtime